2024 Chicago Sky Player Report Card: Angel Reese
Chicago's high-profile rookie delivered on her promise and much more.
Angel Reese carried a big reputation with her to the WNBA level after a decorated college career, but one need look no further than her selection with the seventh overall pick to see that not everyone in the WNBA was convinced by her professional potential (at least not compared to the 6 players chosen before her that is). Yet, Reese’s game—which always looked pro ready at the defensive end—translated quickly to the WNBA level, and she was one of the season’s most talked about players after a history-making string of double-doubles, a slew of single-season rebounding records and an appearance in the WNBA All-Star game in July. Let’s dive into the most impressive aspects of her standout debut season before highlighting one area where she’s likely to take a notable step forward in her second professional season next summer.
1. Rebounding
Before looking into the more nuanced aspects, let’s take a look at Reese’s year in numbers on the glass.
Total Rebounds: 446 (2nd highest single season total ever, 2nd most in 2024)
Offensive Rebounds: 172 (highest single season total ever)
Total Rebounds Per Game: 13.12 (highest season ever)
Offensive Rebounds Per Game: 5.06 (2nd highest season ever, most in 2024)
Rebounding Percentage: 23% (best in the WNBA in 2024)
In short, it wasn’t just a “best in the league” type season for Reese on the glass; it was a “best in league history” type season—something anyone who followed the Sky closely this season was well aware of. That being said, it’s important to put back into context just how impressive the achievements of this season actually were for Reese. When you look at the other players near Reese in rebounds per game, you’re talking about 2018 Sylvia Fowles and 2024 A’ja Wilson. That’s the great Fowles in year 4 of her Minnesota tenure (and year 10 overall) with 2 rings and an MVP award under her belt, and the unanimous MVP Wilson in the midst of maybe the greatest single season ever in her 7th season with 2 previous titles and 2 MVP awards on her resume. In short, it’s the elitest of elite companies and shines a light on just how impressive Reese’s achievement was given it was just her first season in the WNBA (as a non-lottery pick!) which started only a few weeks after she completed her highly distinguished NCAA career.
That said, it’s also important to think about the how of Reese getting rebounds. Because while we always hear about sending numbers to the boards and getting into a good box out position, a lot more players would put up these numbers if it was as simple as establishing position. Reese is a great athlete, yes, but she’s not pulling in all of these rebounds simply because of physical traits or else Kamilla Cardoso (at 6’7”) would have the upper hand against her 6’3” front court partner. Instead, it’s a combo of athleticism, positioning, intelligence and determination that allows Reese to dominate the boards with regularity. Most important of those from my perspective is the intelligence or, as you might call it, “craftiness.” The thing Reese has a knack for doing that really sets he apart compared to any of Wilson, Fowles, Cardoso or others is the rate at which she brings in boards from “bad” box out position. Once a player is boxed out, it’s pretty difficult to get to the “first ball” off the glass unless it comes at a long or awkward angle. At that point, the fight is much more on and those crashing from the perimeter are also in the mix, but it never gets to that point if the ball falls kindly for the player with inside position.
For Reese, there’s plenty of times where—instead of accepting position where she’s likely to be boxed out— she just lingers in an area that no one else is occupying. Instead of crashing or tussling for position, she’s just waiting in an area that gives her a chance to make a play on the ball while all of those other things are going on. When the ball comes off the rim, she then uses a little bit of all her tools (strength, speed, etc.) to slide in between the player(s) who’s established inside position and the rim to collect the ball. That’s not a majority of her rebounds (it’s probably not even a quarter), but these unique boards she grabs thanks to her innate ability to wait and then quickly find the pockets of space in a crowded paint during a scramble for the ball are what give her (13.12 rebounds per game) breathing room to the next closest names—Fowles (11.88) and Wilson (11.87)—on the all-time single-season rebounding leaderboard.
2. Defense
Perhaps the biggest compliment one could give Reese’s rookie season as a defender is that there were few (if any) moments where she looked out of her depth. That’s a great testament to the performance of any WNBA rookie at any position, but it’s an even greater one for a power forward like Reese. Many of the W’s biggest and brightest stars (Wilson, Collier, Stewart, Thomas, etc.) play the four and anyone who’s tasked with trying to slow them (because you don’t stop them) has a huge task on their hands. Yet, Reese handled herself well in those match-ups despite the up-and-down level of the defense around her throughout the course of the season. Take the aforementioned MVP as a for instance. Wilson was impressive against the Sky and matched her season scoring average (27 PPG) in 4 meetings, but she didn’t quite match her (astronomical) season-long efficiency. She scored the ball at a 43% clip from the floor in the games with Chicago as compared to a 52% mark for the season. That difference in efficiency means that, even if A’ja got near 30 points, it took her more shots (and thus used more Vegas possessions) to do so. Against a player of that level, that’s sometimes the best you can expect to do and definitely has an impact on the game.
Against Collier (15 p, 6/19 FG on 9/1), Stewart (19 p, 5/14 FG) and Thomas (9 p, 3/6 FG), Reese had similarly impressive results at times. Throughout the course of the year, her level at the defensive end was so high that she was a fringe all-defense contender—something that’s incredibly hard to do for rookies given the role pre-existing reputation plays in the way people evaluate the defensive side of the ball. She was also an important leader for the defense—something that was one of her calling cards during her time at LSU. With Elizabeth Williams at the heart of the Chicago set-up in May, it looked like Reese could take a backseat and let the veteran lead the way, but she was quickly thrust into a role as the team’s makeshift defensive captain when Williams went down for the season. Given that vocal, emotional role is one she’ll likely be asked to play long-term anyways, it’s probably a plus for the Sky that she got the chance to guide the team so early on in her professional career.
As the Sky look for a new coach, it will be critical to find a bright defensive mind that can feed the concepts and ideology of their system out to an on-court leader like Reese who’s basketball IQ is more than sufficient for interpreting the game and making difficult decisions on the fly. While it didn’t wind up as a huge focus of her defensive play this year, there were also some bright moments for Reese defending in space and on the perimeter. Her foot speed and ability to defend without fouling—even against players with extra speed or strength off the dribble—was mightily impressive. Of course there’s always room for improvement—especially when you’re a rookie—but there’s very little the new coach should ask Reese to overhaul defensively except, perhaps, encouraging her to get out to the perimeter against bigs that can shoot instead of over-helping her teammates inside. This was a negative trend for all of the Chicago front court players after the Olympic break, but it’s easily correctible—especially for someone with Reese’s unique athletic traits.
2025 Goal: “Take What the Defense Gives You”
Reese’s offensive game had some huge bright spots, but it’s obvious neither the Sky or their all-rookie forward will be happy with sub-40% efficiency from the floor long-term. And in truth, I don’t think a big overhaul is needed for Reese to take big strides in those areas. She’s an unconventional scorer in a number of ways, but it was the shot selection that was more damaging than the stylistic elements of her offensive game this season. Many times, when the ball went to Reese in the post, it felt like the decision was already made to try and score. As a veteran defender, that’s an ideal outcome because all you really have to do is get your arms straight up thanks to the reduced range of outcomes. As Reese grows towards her own veteran days, I’d expect to see a lot more diversity of outcome for those post touches, and the result is a lot less forced looks plus a lot more for the opposing defense to think about. Combine those factors and the efficiency will begin to increase naturally. Not because Reese is completely changing how she scores the ball but because she’s passing up the chances that don’t come in circumstances that are conducive to scoring.
And as I said a number of times this season, the objective for Reese and the Sky should be to get the roster around her to a point where something like a 12 point, 4/8 FG night from the floor is enough. The more confidence Reese feels in those around her to score the ball, the less she’ll feel the need to overcommit when she does get a post feed, and the more the ball will keep moving. The more it moves, the more open people get and, in the end, the better quality of look Reese might get when the ball returns to her on that possession or the next offensive trip. In this respect, the impetus is also with the front office to continue putting a strong roster around Reese as, practically speaking, the ball moving only does so much when you lack convincing shooters to spread the defense out.
Overall, the key word for Reese is patience. Because of her unique shot delivery, the majority of her most efficient scoring games this season came when she patiently picked apart the defense. Instead of going right to a shot when the ball arrived to her in the post, a dribble or step to settle herself and find the angle of attack was often just what Reese needed to score around her defender. Because she’s such a high-IQ player, she likely got comfortable being able to find those types of scoring angles at full-speed against smaller, less experienced defenders in high-school and college, but the WNBA level is so high that an extra second to think things through is sometimes all it takes. As she gets more comfortable working the ball back out to teammates on the perimeter (or elsewhere in the post to Cardoso), that extra second will also be critical in letting the play unfold and giving her teammates a chance to get free and show for a pass.
As all this patience and experience comes (with time), I anticipate Reese scoring a similar amount of points per game (12-15) but with considerably fewer shots. For a player that offers so much in every other facet of the game, that output should be plenty to help Chicago win (again, if the roster is built correctly). Of course, if Reese refines her shooting style and overall offensive game in other ways and can score more efficiently while also taking 12 or more shots a game like she did in 2024, that’s an even better outcome, but this season proved that such a leap (while not totally unexpected for a player who’s historically shown a great capacity for improvement) isn’t needed for Reese to be a high-end starter.